Tormented hero comes home: Beach Boy Brian Wilson puts and keeps it together in the studio

By STEVEN LIBOWITZ

 “Brian Wilson is not a chatterbox,” his publicist said recently in one of the great understatements of all time. So who cares? He’s been channeling all his thoughts into producing classic records for four decades, music that stand alongside some of the great compositions of the 20th century. And that’s more than enough.

The brains behind the Beach Boys is an admittedly tormented soul – he confirmed in an interview last September that every single day he stills hear voices in his head that he has to ignore to get through – but also an unparalleled genius in the recording studio. And it’s abundantly clear that sitting at or near his piano is about the only place he’s truly comfortable.

You can tell that from talking to him over the phone. And you can also see it, in unvarnished cinema verite, in “Going Home,” the documentary about the making of Wilson’s new solo album “That Lucky Old Sun” and his return to the Beach Boys’ original home of Capitol Records. The film has its world premiere tonight at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival at 9 p .m. (note time change from 8) at the Lobero Theatre. Wilson and the film’s director/editor George Doherty, will be on hand for a Q&A session moderated by film critic Peter Rainer following the screening.

The film is a terrific companion piece to the new CD, an album that captures the original spirit – and harmonies – of the Beach Boys in a wistful look back at California in the ‘50s and ‘60s. It was shot during the recording of the CD, and offers quite a few glimpses of Wilson in the studio, where he directs the hand-picked band that has played with him for nearly a decade through multiple sessions. We get to watch Wilson fiddling with the EQ at the mixing board, going over every aspect of the sound with the musicians.

“Play harmonies here, third,” he tells the keyboard in one sequence. “Not so many notes,” he says later.

It’s all in the service of getting it just right, the perfect mix he hears in his head onto a format where we all can enjoy it.

“I can hear the music in my head, but I can’t hear the music that I want to go on tape,” he says in the film.

I asked him to expand upon that during our brief second interview earlier this month.

“The song and the arrangement are in my head. I get in the studio and hear what it sounds like and then I experiment in the studio. I know when I find it. I can’t create it in my head, only when I hear it over the speakers.”

But when I probed about feelings – either his own when writing or recording, or the ones he’s trying to evoke in his listeners – Wilson retreated.

“I don’t have feelings,” he said. “It’s just musical intuitions. It’s not that I feel anything when I write… When I’m recording, if it’s a rock ‘n’ roll song I’m excited, if it’s a ballad I feel sad.. Let’s not talk about feelings. Can you please stop asking me about feelings?”

But thankfully, the documentary shows the intricate developments that lead to the gorgeous sounds on the albums.

“He hears everything so you’ve got to be on top of your game,” one of the musicians says on camera. “And you have to think very musically about every note…that it’s a choice.”  

Where does all that intricate arranging come from? How do all the elements come together?

“I have no idea,” Wilson said. “I really can’t tell you.”

Still, peeved as he sounded during the interview, he comes across as nearly giddy during the recording sessions on “Going Home.”

“I guess I’m just still fascinated with making the music,” he explained. “It makes me very happy.”

It makes a whole lot of us happy, too.

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